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Since I've been out for some time now, just wondering if this is a micro-staff college course, or what? Anybody have any feedback (good/bad) on this?
Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act - http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409
Arming soldiers with more knowledge
Paul Dalby, Toronto Star, 17 Aug 06
http://tinyurl.com/ehsh7
The Canadian Armed Forces' long-standing boast that "there's no life like it" finally starts to sound like the real deal, thanks to an exciting new venture in continuing education.
The Armed Forces is doing something it has never permitted before: It's allowing the civilian world to educate its non-commissioned members.
(Lack of reporter backgrounding alert) The Canadian Defence Academy, which supervises the training and education of all military men and women, has teamed up with Loyalist College in Belleville to design a new diploma course for the non-commissioned members — master sergeants down to corporals.
The distance learning course, entitled Military Arts and Sciences, will be offered by Loyalist to military personnel through the OntarioLearn.com website, starting in September.
By next January's second intake, it's expected that all 20 of Ontario's community colleges will have signed agreements with the Defence Academy to also offer the course.
Enlisted men and women will be able to access the course from anywhere in the world that they may be serving — even in war-torn Afghanistan, as long as they are in a barracks situation where computers are available.
What makes the Military Arts and Sciences course unique is that it will also be open to civilian members of the National Defence Department, high schoolers contemplating a career in uniform and a general public just curious to know more about the way the Canadian military operates.
"We anticipate the first enrolment of (defence department) personnel will be around 15,000 to 20,000 people. But with the wider civilian application, the sky's the limit," says Jim Barrett, director of learning management at the Defence Academy in Kingston.
"This is a first and it's very, very Canadian," Barrett says. "Most countries focus on the officer corps but I believe Canada is almost alone in thinking of the non-commissioned members, who we believe are the backbone of the armed forces."
"This new course means that the non-commissioned members are getting the same access to education as the officers, all the way from seamen to admiral and infantryman to general."
The course will coach the non-commissioned members in the laws of armed conflict, operational planning and Canadian military history.
The new online diploma also includes component courses on leadership, management, communications, ethics, attitudinal skills, and also as a mandatory requirement of the Ontario Ministry of Education — lectures on racism and discrimination.
The two-year diploma course parallels the degree course already offered to trainee officers at the Royal Military College. In fact, the two training programs, one inside the military and one outside, are linked: The diploma will count for 10 of the 30 credits needed for the degree course so non-commissioned members have the potential to keep upgrading their skills.
Canada's military leadership wanted the new course to train the non-commissioned members to make better decisions out in the field, particularly after the tragic events in Somalia.
"In Somalia we had forces in the field that were juggling a military role, humanitarian needs and peacekeeping duties," Barrett says.
"They were clearly not prepared for that juggling act."
In late 1992, the 900 soldiers of the Canadian Airborne Regiment were sent to Somalia on a difficult peacekeeping mission.
An elite commando unit, the Airborne arrived in Somalia when the country had just been through famine and civil war.
It had no government and roving gangs terrorized the country.
In 52C heat, discipline started to wilt. The following March, two Somalis were shot by soldiers on patrol at the compound. One was wounded, the other was shot dead. An army surgeon revealed the man had lived for a few minutes, then was shot "execution-style in the head."
Then 12 days later, a 16-year-old was tortured and murdered on the base. One of the soldiers involved took "trophy" pictures of the torture.
The Airborne Regiment was disbanded by the Canadian government and a commission of inquiry set .
One of its conclusions was that the non-commissioned members of the armed forces needed better training.
A decade later that dream became a reality when the Canadian Defence Academy was set up to overhaul the military's education program and supervise existing officer-training establishments like the RMC.
The Defence Academy contacted Loyalist College, Ontario's smallest community college but the owner of strong academic credentials and also close ties to the military community in nearby Trenton.
"It really was a test of the college system, and how quickly we could hit the ground running," says Trudie Lake, manager of continuing education at Loyalist.
Lake spent a year designing the new course together with the academy's academic staff officer David Emelifeonwu.
"We had to find out what they were looking for so we showed them all 400 courses that we offer," Lake explains. "They could pick out what they needed, then we sat down with their military textbooks.
"Clearly the military sees the use of the community colleges' system to train its personnel as a smart use of taxpayers' money and it won't be limited to Ontario."
"We plan to expand the Military Arts and Sciences course to other provinces in the next couple of years so that you will be able to take the course from coast to coast," Emelifeonwu says.
The success of this diploma course has sparked talk of involving community colleges in other apprenticeship programs offered by the military.
"They told us right off the bat that this was a pilot program and it's a test to see what you can do," Loyalist's Lake says. "But they also told us there were bigger things down the road so we knew we had to get it right."
At the academy, Barrett thinks the new link with the community colleges is the way of the future.
"I'm a retired air force officer and when I went through training, the armed forces did all the training," he says. "The military world was completely isolated from the civilian world. That position is no longer tenable."
Canada may not have the largest armed forces in the Western world, Barrett says, "but with the introduction of this new diploma course it will have one of the best-educated ones."
Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act - http://www.cb-cda.gc.ca/info/act-e.html#rid-33409
Arming soldiers with more knowledge
Paul Dalby, Toronto Star, 17 Aug 06
http://tinyurl.com/ehsh7
The Canadian Armed Forces' long-standing boast that "there's no life like it" finally starts to sound like the real deal, thanks to an exciting new venture in continuing education.
The Armed Forces is doing something it has never permitted before: It's allowing the civilian world to educate its non-commissioned members.
(Lack of reporter backgrounding alert) The Canadian Defence Academy, which supervises the training and education of all military men and women, has teamed up with Loyalist College in Belleville to design a new diploma course for the non-commissioned members — master sergeants down to corporals.
The distance learning course, entitled Military Arts and Sciences, will be offered by Loyalist to military personnel through the OntarioLearn.com website, starting in September.
By next January's second intake, it's expected that all 20 of Ontario's community colleges will have signed agreements with the Defence Academy to also offer the course.
Enlisted men and women will be able to access the course from anywhere in the world that they may be serving — even in war-torn Afghanistan, as long as they are in a barracks situation where computers are available.
What makes the Military Arts and Sciences course unique is that it will also be open to civilian members of the National Defence Department, high schoolers contemplating a career in uniform and a general public just curious to know more about the way the Canadian military operates.
"We anticipate the first enrolment of (defence department) personnel will be around 15,000 to 20,000 people. But with the wider civilian application, the sky's the limit," says Jim Barrett, director of learning management at the Defence Academy in Kingston.
"This is a first and it's very, very Canadian," Barrett says. "Most countries focus on the officer corps but I believe Canada is almost alone in thinking of the non-commissioned members, who we believe are the backbone of the armed forces."
"This new course means that the non-commissioned members are getting the same access to education as the officers, all the way from seamen to admiral and infantryman to general."
The course will coach the non-commissioned members in the laws of armed conflict, operational planning and Canadian military history.
The new online diploma also includes component courses on leadership, management, communications, ethics, attitudinal skills, and also as a mandatory requirement of the Ontario Ministry of Education — lectures on racism and discrimination.
The two-year diploma course parallels the degree course already offered to trainee officers at the Royal Military College. In fact, the two training programs, one inside the military and one outside, are linked: The diploma will count for 10 of the 30 credits needed for the degree course so non-commissioned members have the potential to keep upgrading their skills.
Canada's military leadership wanted the new course to train the non-commissioned members to make better decisions out in the field, particularly after the tragic events in Somalia.
"In Somalia we had forces in the field that were juggling a military role, humanitarian needs and peacekeeping duties," Barrett says.
"They were clearly not prepared for that juggling act."
In late 1992, the 900 soldiers of the Canadian Airborne Regiment were sent to Somalia on a difficult peacekeeping mission.
An elite commando unit, the Airborne arrived in Somalia when the country had just been through famine and civil war.
It had no government and roving gangs terrorized the country.
In 52C heat, discipline started to wilt. The following March, two Somalis were shot by soldiers on patrol at the compound. One was wounded, the other was shot dead. An army surgeon revealed the man had lived for a few minutes, then was shot "execution-style in the head."
Then 12 days later, a 16-year-old was tortured and murdered on the base. One of the soldiers involved took "trophy" pictures of the torture.
The Airborne Regiment was disbanded by the Canadian government and a commission of inquiry set .
One of its conclusions was that the non-commissioned members of the armed forces needed better training.
A decade later that dream became a reality when the Canadian Defence Academy was set up to overhaul the military's education program and supervise existing officer-training establishments like the RMC.
The Defence Academy contacted Loyalist College, Ontario's smallest community college but the owner of strong academic credentials and also close ties to the military community in nearby Trenton.
"It really was a test of the college system, and how quickly we could hit the ground running," says Trudie Lake, manager of continuing education at Loyalist.
Lake spent a year designing the new course together with the academy's academic staff officer David Emelifeonwu.
"We had to find out what they were looking for so we showed them all 400 courses that we offer," Lake explains. "They could pick out what they needed, then we sat down with their military textbooks.
"Clearly the military sees the use of the community colleges' system to train its personnel as a smart use of taxpayers' money and it won't be limited to Ontario."
"We plan to expand the Military Arts and Sciences course to other provinces in the next couple of years so that you will be able to take the course from coast to coast," Emelifeonwu says.
The success of this diploma course has sparked talk of involving community colleges in other apprenticeship programs offered by the military.
"They told us right off the bat that this was a pilot program and it's a test to see what you can do," Loyalist's Lake says. "But they also told us there were bigger things down the road so we knew we had to get it right."
At the academy, Barrett thinks the new link with the community colleges is the way of the future.
"I'm a retired air force officer and when I went through training, the armed forces did all the training," he says. "The military world was completely isolated from the civilian world. That position is no longer tenable."
Canada may not have the largest armed forces in the Western world, Barrett says, "but with the introduction of this new diploma course it will have one of the best-educated ones."
